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tedwords With the U.S. Surgeon General calling obesity an epidemic, legislators nationwide are offering measures to encourage healthy food choices and ban the worst temptations.
Few ideas have become law yet. But states have considered scores of bills this year that would, among other things: get kids exercising; warn restaurant eaters about fat, sugar and cholesterol on the menu; and, ban sugary sodas and fattening chips from school vending machines.
In a Louisiana experiment, the state will pay for a few government employees' gastric bypass surgery — or stomach stapling — to see if it reduces health care costs.
The statistics show the need for such efforts. The number of obese adults has doubled in 20 years, and is now up to nearly 59 million people, or almost a third of all American adults.
Childhood obesity has tripled, with one child in six considered obese.
This reminds me of a cartoon that my cellmate Peg showed me on Friday. The witch from Hansel and Gretel is standing outside her gingerbread house, talking to another witch, when two fairly solid kids come walking down the road. The witch turns to her friend and says, "You remember when we had to fatten them up first?"
Few ideas have become law yet. But states have considered scores of bills this year that would, among other things: get kids exercising; warn restaurant eaters about fat, sugar and cholesterol on the menu; and, ban sugary sodas and fattening chips from school vending machines.
In a Louisiana experiment, the state will pay for a few government employees' gastric bypass surgery — or stomach stapling — to see if it reduces health care costs.
The statistics show the need for such efforts. The number of obese adults has doubled in 20 years, and is now up to nearly 59 million people, or almost a third of all American adults.
Childhood obesity has tripled, with one child in six considered obese.
This reminds me of a cartoon that my cellmate Peg showed me on Friday. The witch from Hansel and Gretel is standing outside her gingerbread house, talking to another witch, when two fairly solid kids come walking down the road. The witch turns to her friend and says, "You remember when we had to fatten them up first?"
